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Adventure Comics Vol 1 41
Deep in the Hindu Kush Mountains, a caravan of explorers led by Kenneth Stone were hiking the rocky trails, in search of the legendary temple of the long forgotten Lasba tribe. Joining the group was Ted Collins, former football champ during his college years, and Professor Watkins, who has spent the last three years of his life pouring over maps and ancient texts in relation to the Holy Temple. As they set up their pup-tents for that evening, Professor Watkins described the wonders they were about to uncover, for the temple had lay undiscovered by man for hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of years. Ali Basb, their native guide, had claimed to have come across it once when he was a young boy. Claiming to be a member of the Lasba tribe, Ali warned Stone when they first set out that most of his people were very unfriendly towards outsiders. After supper, the party turned in for the night. Stone was awakened by a strange sound coming from near where Watkins had his tent, almost like someone was taking soft steps so as not to be heard. Stone grabbed his revolver and cautiously moved to the front of the professor's tent and glanced around, his eyes trying to pierce through the darkness to detect even the smallest hint of movement... And then, all of a sudden there was a bloodcurdling scream that woke up the entire camp! Watkins and Collins exited their tents and rushed with Stone towards the scream's direction. The natives were forming a circle around a figure on the ground, they frighteningly muttered in their own language. Pushing their way through, the three white men found, to their horror, a natives corpse lying on the ground with a knife protruding from his back. Stone saw a note attached to the hilt and examined it, but he couldn't read the language it was written in. He handed it to Watkins, who identifies the text as Lasba, and proceeds to translate. It was a warning to all seeking the temple, saying death would be the only treasure they would find. Stone calls Ali over and hands him the knife the murderer had used, asking for his opinion. The young native takes one look at the etchings on the handle, a two-headed serpent, and immediately drops the blade in fear. He tells them that the knife was evil, the serpent serving as a symbol of power and destruction which all the holy men of the Lasba tribe possess. His recommendation? To turn around and forget all about the temple. Stone, Collins, and Watkins hold a private conference to decide whether or not they should continue, despite the threats and the danger posed. It was unanimous. They had come all this way, and a superstition wouldn't stop them from achieving their goal! Once day broke through, the trio pushed the native caravan onward, moving ever further into the mountain range... (Story concludes next issue) | Synopsis8 = Lieutenant Commander Don Kerry has arrived on shore after spending a week studying the top secret plans for the Navy's new prized possession, the radio guided torpedo! While in the town, he takes his best friend Red Murphy out to see a flick at the theater. But just as they had decided on a movie, Don spots a strange sight. Walking across the street in plain daylight was Sin Yen, the master spy and a wanted man by the secret service! Don and Red try to follow him as he walks into a warehouse and down a corridor which turns into a bare room. When they got there, at first there was no sign of Sin Yen, but as soon as they turned around, Sin Yen was there armed with a handgun. He had led Don Kerry into a trap so that he would draw up a perfect reproduction of the plans for the radio controlled torpedo. Don had other ideas, however, and he kiks the gun out of Yen's hand, then he and Red made a run for the exit, but they slam into an invisible pane of glass that had been secretly placed in front of the doorway. Their heads throbbed as they drifted into unconsciousness. Don Kerry and Red Murphy woke up an hour later to find themselves in a large room with a control booth attached to the the ceiling. Inside, Sin Yen spoke through a microphone, asking Don one last time if he'll reconsider. Don replies that nothing Sin Yen could say or do will make him betray his country, so Yen began to press a few buttons on his console. Portions of the wall slid open, revealing the results of his twisted genetic experiments on animals. The first to attack was a giant 7-foot-tall ape that walked like a man. With it's monstrous strength, it threw Red across the room into the wall, knocking him out cold. Don crashed a table down over the beast's head but it only served to anger him. However, as it charged towards Don, the Gorilla-Man fell through a weak spot in the floor to be impaled on sharp wooden stakes. It seemed that Sin Yen had also set up trap doors in the floor to catch the navy officers. Before Kerry could take a moment to relax, another wall panel slid open, this time admitting a creature with the front half of a large spider and the back of a slithering snake! It started crawling right for Red's prone form. Don hopped on the creature's back and locked his powerful arms around it's head in an attempt to choke the life out of it. He felt the snake part wrap around him like a boa constrictor in a retaliatory effort. Man and Beast held their grips against each other, waiting to see which of them would give first... Just when it seemed his lungs would burst, Don managed to choke the last breath out of the beast, causing it to go limp. Suddenly a heavy wall of glass came down, separating Don from Red, whose side of the room began to fill with water! Sin Yen asked for the plans one final time, threatening to end his friend's life with his last creation if he didn't. Red was starting to stir, the water reviving him. Don was helpless to save him as long as the glass separated them but, being a member of the United States Navy, he again refused the villains request! The angry spy pulled a lever releasing the "Octo-Dile", an eight tentacled being with the ferocity of a crocodile and the reach of an octopus. Red jumps aside to avoid being slammed by one of the tentacles, and the infuriated creature swings its other limbs around wildly, breaking the glass barrier, causing shards to fall every which way. One of the glass fragments stuck itself in the Octo-Dile's chest, causing it to thrash around in agony. It's wild movements struck the control booth and brought it, and the crazed Sin Yen within, crashing to the ground. Another minute, and the abomination of nature was completely still. Sin Yen's body lay nearby, crushed under the booths weight. A hole had been torn in the side of the room, leading to the street outside. The citizens were dumbstruck at the sight of the two soaked sailors walking away from the crumbling building. Don and Red laughed. If only they knew... | Synopsis9 = At the ranch house of retired Colonel Danforth, Skip Schuyler was sitting in the study asking about the urgent letter the colonel had sent him, requesting his assistance. Colonel Danforth replied that his ranch has been having problems of late, but before he could explain further, a young woman walked into the room. The colonel introduces his daughter, Leslie, to a speechless Skip who was dumbstruck by the girl's beauty. He could barely pay attention to Danforth's story about the cattle on his ranch, as Leslie passed him by with a smile, and before Skip knew it the Colonel's assistant had called them in for lunch. Afterwards, Danforth takes Schuyler out on the horses and shows him the eight hundred and fifty acres of land he owned. It was far too large for the small amount of farmhands the ranch had, and the disappearance of his cattle by rustlers threatened to run the colonel into bankruptcy. He tells Skip that was why he called him out here, because he needed someone with modern ideas for dealing with the new turn-of-the-century rustlers that use automobiles and aeroplanes to steer cattle away. It was impossible to know when the plane will strike or which herd it will go after, and there was nothing the farmhands could do to stop the cattle from stampeding. All he knew was that the plane steered the cow several miles until they reached the highway, where men armed with machine guns would gather them up in a trailer. Listening to Colonel Danforth, Skip comes up with a plan. He'll use the army plane he flew out there in to patrol the skies. With the plane's speed, he doubted any criminal could outfly him... The next day, Colonel Danforth and Leslie wished Skip luck as he got into his plane and took off. He cruised around, keeping an eye on the outlying sections of the ranch. Below, several herds of cattle could be seen grazing in the pastures, but still no sign of any plane. And then he saw them, out on the highway was a line of cars and trailer trucks lining up on the side of the road, preparing to steal another herd. A drone of another aeroplane engine was heard coming out of the west, and Skip maneuvered his own plane towards the sound. Sure enough, the plane that had been stampeding the cattle appeared, and Skip decided to try to get it to land by utilizing a scare tactic used in the old war. He charged directly towards the outlaw in a game of chicken, with the other plane realizing what he was doing and at first holding it's ground. But Skip's nerves of steel paid off, and the outlaw pilot dove out of the way at the last moment. Skip tried the maneuver a few more times until the rustler couldn't take it anymore and brought his plane down in an open field. When both planes had touched down, Schuyler got out of the cockpit and rushed towards the other pilot. But he stopped in time to see the man flash a gun. With quick reflexes, Skip picked up a fist-sized rock off the ground and threw it at the pilot's head, knocking him senseless. To end things, Skip dragged the limp form of the pilot back to his plane and then stuck one end of a gasoline soaked rope into the gas tank of the man's plane. As he took off in his army plane, with the outlaw tied up comfortably in the back seat to be delivered to Colonel Danforth, the flame followed the rope until it struck the main fuel line, and Skip watched from high above as the rustler's main means of cattle robbing went up in smoke... | Synopsis10 = After their last adventure, in which Rusty and the gang had left Long Sin and Ichabod Slade to their fates on a sinking island, the party were relaxing as the Duchess, former smuggler, flew them across the ocean to safety. At least, that was the plane until the fuel gauge indicated they were out of gas. Steve figured one of Long Sin's men had shot a hole in the tank, meaning the fuel was quickly leaking out. With her expert piloting skills, the Duchess was at least able to glide the plane onto the water where unfortunately they would remain until a ship passed by or they starved to death, which was a thought that made the always-hungry Tubby groan. It was three days of being surrounded by grinning sharks before Rusty suddenly cried out that a ship was coming towards them. Finally they would be saved! Sometime later, after the unfortunate occupants of the plane had been picked up and fed, the ship resumes it's journey. That night on the deck, Steve was spending a romantic time with the Duchess. She insisted that he start calling her by her name, which was Diane... after which, they kissed. Two days later the ship docks at Liverpool where all sorts of reporters met the gang at the dock, unrelentlessly hounding them with questions about the death of criminal Long Sin and their discovery of a smugglers ring! But in another part of England, a man was not pleased with the headlines. Chen Fu, the secret head of the vast Opium smuggling ring, was furious at the loss of his best man, Long Sin, and the shipment of Opium that he had promised him. The crimelord demanded vengeance! Calling in two of his henchman, Chen Fu provided them with a photograph of Rusty and ordered them to kidnap the boy and bring him back to the hideout. As Rusty strolls down the streets of London later that day, he fails to notice the two sinister figures following him... | Synopsis11 = In the Shrine of Dagan, after Cotton Carver defeated Voggoth and his band, the great golden statue of Dagan started to turn into the wall, revealing the source of the speaking statue as a woman sitting at a throne on the other side. The majestic woman beckons Cotton to come closer. She tells him that she is Elara, priestess of Dagan, and that she was impressed by his journey through the temple of the heartstone. If he would come with her now, she may be able to help him get back home to the outer crust, but Cotton would have to leave his friends in the shrine, where Voggoth would treat their wounds with a special medicine. Ever curious, Cotton agrees and allows Elara to lead him through the dark cavern behind the glorious statue until they come to a small dock where a little boat was waiting. Once they both sat inside, the boat magically began to move without the use of a motor or oars! Soon, the boat brings them to a massive gate that puts Cotton in awe... Elara speaks, commanding the gate to open and admit them to the palace of Thule, her home. The gates respond as they withdraw, letting the tiny boat move onwards towards a gloomy castle on an island. Elara has taken Cotton to her father's tomb inside the castle, where she explains a prophecy of a strange warrior that would arrive when Thule's last ruler died. She believes him to be that warrior, and presents Cotton with a sword named Malar, saying it had magical properties. Cotton, meanwhile, was completely in the dark and remained very confused. He asked just what it was she wanted him to do? Elara answered that he was destined to slay the wicked Scarlet Seeress, who sought to conquer the entire world with her power. Only the blade of Malar could do her any harm. If Cotton would do this, Elara promised to show him the path to the outer crust. Before sending him off, she offers him a token of her good will in the form of a gold bracelet that will bring him luck. Cotton Carver journeys through a forest in the direction he was told to travel by Elara. As he moved along, he thought of all the strangeness he has so far encountered in the land below the crust, things undreamed of in the world above seemed commonplace here. Then, while he was lost in thought, a large, glass bell-jar drops over him, and he starts to experience a dizzy falling sensation... Cotton awakens to find a red-headed woman kneeling over him, attempting to get him to drink a foul concoction. He slaps the cup aside, angering his captor who casts a spell to put him into a deep trance-like sleep. While in this state, Cotton is commanded to follow the woman into a tower where a bearded old man sits at a throne. He asks Cotton why he has come to the Kingdom of Loma, which Cotton replies he was sent to avenge the death of Thule's King. This obviously comes as a shock to the old man, who accuses the woman, whom he calls Sacla, of murdering Thule's last ruler. Sacla laughs wickedly, admitting that the fall of Thule would only be the start of her world takeover, and then she disappears in a cloud of smoke! Cotton has foolishly left the sword of Malar back where he was first found by the Scarlet Seeress, but he could not remember where that was. The old man takes out a mystical plate that reflects what the user wishes to see, and through it Cotton is able to see the blade, lying in an open field! He is then lead outside, the old man explaining that he had a method of quick travel through the woods. He was taken to an odd looking vehicle which the man said was his flying car, and indeed it did fly when they got inside, with the man steering it towards the clearing where the sword lie. Outside the gates of Thule, Sacla, the Scarlet Seeress, had gathered her dark army for the invasion. But she was interrupted by Cotton Carver, who leapt from the flying car with blade in hand, to face down the wicked woman. A fight between the two breaks out, but Cotton has had the upper hand from the beginning! The sword of Malar sliced through Sacla in a bloody finale, and the dark horde disappeared back into the shadows from whence they came... | Editor1_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor2_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor3_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor4_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor5_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor6_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor7_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor8_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor9_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor10_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Editor11_1 = Vincent Sullivan | Writer1_1 = Bert Christman | Writer2_1 = Ed Winiarski | Writer3_1 = Jerry Siegel | Writer4_1 = Jim Chambers | Writer5_1 = Joseph Sulman | Writer6_1 = Ed Winiarski | Writer7_1 = Terry Keane | Writer8_1 = Bart Tumey | Writer9_1 = Tom Hickey | Writer10_1 = Bob Kane | Writer11_1 = Gardner Fox | Penciler1_1 = Bert Christman | Penciler2_1 = Ed Winiarski | Penciler3_1 = Joe Shuster | Penciler4_1 = Jim Chambers | Penciler5_1 = Joseph Sulman | Penciler6_1 = Ed Winiarski | Penciler7_1 = | Penciler8_1 = Bart Tumey | Penciler9_1 = Tom Hickey | Penciler10_1 = Bob Kane | Penciler11_1 = George Newman | Inker1_1 = Bert Christman | Inker2_1 = Ed Winiarski | Inker3_1 = Joe Shuster | Inker4_1 = Jim Chambers | Inker5_1 = Joseph Sulman | Inker6_1 = Ed Winiarski | Inker7_1 = | Inker8_1 = Bart Tumey | Inker9_1 = Tom Hickey | Inker10_1 = Bob Kane | Inker11_1 = George Newman | Colourist1_1 = | Letterer1_1 = | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * None Adversaries: * Wing * Wing's men :* Tipper :* Ed :* others Other Characters: * Janice Blue Locations: * ** *** Items: * Vehicles: * None | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Inspector LeGrand Adversaries: * Vadlop Durez Other Characters: * Agent X-3 Locations: * Items: * None Vehicles: * Fishing Boats | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * Steve Carson Supporting Characters: * Adversaries: * Mobrune * Mobrune's Assistant Other Characters: * None Locations: * Unknown Items: * None Vehicles: * Plane | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Stomp McHenry Adversaries: * Slash Morlin * Morlin's men :* Mugiel :* others Other Characters: * Speck McHenry * Sheriff Henkle Locations: * Town of Hondas Items: * None Vehicles: * None | Appearing5 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Jerry Indutch Adversaries: * Nogoodi * Kentuck Yhome Other Characters: * Beri * Sedburn * Tribal Chief Locations: * Unknown Items: * None Vehicles: * None | Appearing6 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Gabby Maguire Adversaries: * Revolting Natives Other Characters: * Colonel McAllister * Sergeant McTavish * Rawlins * Riley * Kennedy * Kent * Stashu Locations: * Items: * None Vehicles: * None | Appearing7 = Featured Characters: * Kenneth Stone Supporting Characters: * Ted Collins * Professor Watkins Adversaries: * Lasba Tribe Other Characters: * Ali Masb Locations: * Items: * None Vehicles: * None | Appearing8 = Featured Characters: * Don Kerry Supporting Characters: * Red Murphy Adversaries: * Sin Yen * Gorilla Man * Boa-Spider * Octo-Dile Other Characters: * Locations: * Unknown Items: * Radio Controlled Torpedo Vehicles: * None | Appearing9 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Adversaries: * Cattle Rustler Other Characters: * Colonel Danforth * Leslie Danforth Locations: * Unknown Items: * None Vehicles: * Aeroplane | Appearing10 = Featured Characters: * Rusty * Specs * Tubby Supporting Characters: * Steve Carter * The Duchess (Diane) Adversaries: * Chen Fu * Chen Fu's men * Long Sin Other Characters: * Alfred P. Forrest Locations: * , Items: * None Vehicles: * Seaplane | Appearing11 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * King of Loma Adversaries: * Sacla, the Scarlet Seeress Other Characters: * Kothe * Elara Locations: * Mayala ** Thule ** Loma Items: * Malar (magical sword) Vehicles: * Flying Car | Notes = * Bert Christman is credited as Larry Dean in this issue. * "On the Waterfront" is reprinted in Golden Age Sandman Archives, Volume 1. | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = * Adventure Comics #41 index entry * Adventure Comics #41 spoilers 1 * Adventure Comics #41 spoilers 2 }}